Chapter 296 : Have You Learned Martial Arts?
Jin Seong-un asked about the Thunderclap Sect’s martial strength.
After exchanging words with them, they seemed like unmistakable Unorthodox Sect bastards rather than anything caught between the righteous and evil factions.
However, Vice Sect Leader Jo Jeon-pung assumed Jin Seong-un was asking about the Thunderclap Sect’s capabilities before entrusting them with work.
The Vice Sect Leader puffed up proudly as he replied.
“Well now. If I answer honestly, it’ll sound like boasting, but if I act humble, it’ll become deception, so this is quite a troublesome question. Let me say only this. Whether it’s the Five Great Families, the Nine Sects and One Gang, or even those called the overlords of the Black Path—none of them dare provoke our Thunderclap Sect.”
It was an incredibly arrogant answer.
But the Vice Sect Leader genuinely believed it.
The Thunderclap Sect was not a sect that won through battle.
It was a sect that perished together with its enemies.
When cornered, they were the type who would explode alongside their opponents with the resolve of mutual destruction.
“I see.”
Jin Seong-un’s tone subtly changed.
Soon afterward, Jin Seong-un slowly spread out his spiritual senses to personally assess the Thunderclap Sect’s strength.
‘What is this?’
He sensed someone with an unusual aura approaching this place.
However, the aura was so faint that he would never have noticed it without concentrating.
Since there was no reaction from the adjacent room where Ghost of Divine Slaughter waited, it seemed even one of the world’s greatest assassins had failed to notice.
The aura soon arrived outside the room where Jin Seong-un sat.
At the same time, a soft and graceful voice rang out, like jade beads rolling atop a silver tray.
“Vice Sect Leader, may I come in for a moment?”
The Vice Sect Leader brightened immediately and rose from his seat.
Without even asking Jin Seong-un’s permission, he strode toward the door.
Click.
As the door opened, a woman with unusually pale skin and a slender frame revealed herself.
The Vice Sect Leader smiled brightly.
“Sister-in-law, what brings you here? You must be busy preparing for tomorrow…….”
“I heard an honored guest had arrived.”
As she said that, the woman peeked her head past the Vice Sect Leader and looked toward Jin Seong-un.
Holding a cup of alcohol in his hand, Jin Seong-un silently stared at her.
She was a woman who stirred a strange sensation within him.
‘A martial artist?’
It was difficult to tell.
Because Jin Seong-un’s spiritual senses were extremely sharp, he could generally estimate another person’s martial level with ease.
Yet from this woman, he sensed no notable internal energy whatsoever.
And still—
The sensation twisting deep within his heart resembled the feeling he experienced when facing a powerful martial artist.
The woman gave a faint smile with her eyes and spoke.
“Young Hero Guest Dragon, it’s an honor to meet you like this.”
“Are you to become the Sect Leader’s wife?”
The woman smiled shyly.
As always, Jin Seong-un merely observed her with a dry expression.
“Lord Sect Leader prepared a banquet. Why don’t your bodyguard in the next room join us as well, and we all dine together?”
Jin Seong-un nodded.
After all, one of the reasons he came all the way to the Thunderclap Sect was to confirm the identity of the woman rumored to be Noble Enchantress.
Contrary to the rumors, she gave an extremely modest and humble impression.
As Jin Seong-un stared at her intently, the woman smiled sweetly and spoke.
“Ah, my name is So Wol. Wol as in moon. Shall we go then?”
“Let’s.”
Jin Seong-un emptied his cup and rose from his seat.
---
The banquet hall of the Thunderclap Sect.
Jin Seong-un and Ghost of Divine Slaughter sat on the left side, while Vice Sect Leader Jo Jeon-pung sat opposite them.
The empty seat beside So Wol was naturally the seat of the Sect Leader of the Thunderclap Sect.
“I heard you’re a remarkable hero? Your reputation has spread even to this countryside.”
With a casual voice, she praised Jin Seong-un.
After some trivial conversation passed back and forth without meaning—
Creeeak, thunk.
The banquet hall doors opened, and a man entered.
Unlike Jo Jeon-pung, who resembled Zhang Fei at Changban Bridge with his massive build, this man was smaller than average.
However, his face was even redder and fiercer-looking than Jo Jeon-pung’s, as though he had drunk himself into a stupor.
He strode over confidently and naturally seated himself at the place of honor before looking toward Jin Seong-un and Ghost of Divine Slaughter.
“A pleasure. I am Jo Jeon-myeong, Sect Leader of the Thunderclap Sect.”
“I am Jin Seong-un of Yichang.”
As Jin Seong-un cupped his fist in greeting, Jo Jeon-myeong nodded with satisfaction.
Though the Sect Leader of the Thunderclap Sect never revealed his aura even once, every word he spoke and every small gesture carried considerable weight.
Naturally so.
He was the leader of an entire sect and a master who cultivated Thunder Arts, among the most domineering martial arts in existence.
Afterward, all sorts of ordinary conversations were exchanged.
Words of gratitude for coming.
Stories about Jin Seong-un’s recent exploits.
Talks of the Thunderclap Sect’s martial arts.
Even everyday matters such as alcohol and food.
Yet strangely enough, every conversation somehow concluded in the same direction.
“Hoh, our Wol’s cooking skills are truly exceptional. I heard the chef at Seong-un Inn is remarkable as well. If given the chance, I’d love to host you someday.”
Every topic eventually returned to ‘our Wol.’
It seemed the Sect Leader of the Thunderclap Sect had completely fallen for So Wol.
Well, naturally so.
Otherwise, why would the leader of a sect already past middle age decide to marry?
While appropriately responding to the Sect Leader’s conversation, Jin Seong-un continued observing So Wol.
Surprisingly, throughout the entire conversation, she quietly watched only Jin Seong-un.
After their eyes met over a dozen times already, Jin Seong-un suddenly asked,
“Perhaps Madam has also learned martial arts?”
The answer came from the Sect Leader himself.
“Haha, not at all. She’s a fragile woman who doesn’t even know the Three Talents Heart Method, let alone martial arts. I have to handle her carefully enough that she might break at a touch.”
“I see.”
Jin Seong-un nodded and drank his alcohol.
Contrary to the Sect Leader’s explanation, Jin Seong-un found it difficult to shake the uncomfortable feeling he sensed from the woman.
* Elder, do you also think that woman hasn’t learned martial arts?
* She definitely hasn’t. I already released my senses and confirmed it myself.
As befitted an assassin, Ghost of Divine Slaughter thoroughly investigated any unfamiliar person or situation.
He was already convinced that So Wol had nothing to do with martial arts.
Thunk.
Jin Seong-un set down his cup.
If Ghost of Divine Slaughter said that much, then there was a high chance she truly knew no martial arts.
“But Bodyguard, do you truly not intend to drink even a single cup?”
The Sect Leader of the Thunderclap Sect asked Ghost of Divine Slaughter.
Ghost of Divine Slaughter’s cup remained exactly as it had been when first filled, untouched.
“I’m a bodyguard.”
“Excellent. It seems Guest Dragon’s luck with people is just as great as the rumors say.”
Unlike the Vice Sect Leader, who had caused a scene earlier, the Sect Leader treated Ghost of Divine Slaughter politely.
Soon, the Sect Leader rose from his seat.
“As you know, tomorrow is an important day, so it would be best to conclude things here. Once again, I thank you sincerely. We’ll prepare lodging for you, so please rest comfortably before leaving.”
As he said that, the Sect Leader personally refilled everyone’s cups one final time.
Jin Seong-un once again thought how remarkably different the personalities of the Sect Leader and Vice Sect Leader were despite being blood brothers.
Soon, the Sect Leader left the banquet hall alongside So Wol.
Jin Seong-un watched their departing figures for quite some time, while the Vice Sect Leader stared meaningfully at him.
---
That night, after the Sect Leader of the Thunderclap Sect surrendered himself to drunkenness and fell into deep sleep.
Inside a dark room, a man and woman sat facing one another across a table.
Vice Sect Leader Jo Jeon-pung poured himself another drink, apparently unsatisfied with the alcohol from the banquet, and spoke.
“So, what did you think?”
“About what?”
“Don’t play dumb. The way you and Guest Dragon kept looking at each other earlier was far from ordinary.”
As the Vice Sect Leader spoke with a lewd grin, So Wol snorted softly.
“It’s not like that.”
“Oh really?”
“Still, it’s a good thing. A treasure rolled right to our doorstep on its own.”
“You mean Guest Dragon is a treasure?”
“How could he not be? He’s rich, young, and has enough fame that he won’t go around blabbering about suspicious relationships.”
So Wol now spoke and acted completely differently from how she had before the Sect Leader.
No trace of shyness or humility remained in her eyes.
Instead, they gleamed sharply with cold ambition.
“The Sect Leader of the Thunderclap Sect is quite fiery by nature, isn’t he?”
“My elder brother has that side to him despite appearances.”
“But if strange rumors started spreading about the woman destined to become the Sect Leader’s wife…… Guest Dragon would find himself in a very troublesome position, wouldn’t he?”
The Vice Sect Leader’s brows furrowed.
“You’re saying you’ll fool around with Guest Dragon and use it to extort money from him?”
“Aren’t we both working toward the same goal?”
Naturally, that goal was money.
Jo Jeon-pung used her to cloud the Sect Leader’s judgment while committing all manner of wicked acts and atrocities.
And she seduced the Sect Leader while steadily draining the Thunderclap Sect’s wealth away.
“Think about it. If the Sect Leader learns that Guest Dragon and I became involved, he’ll become furious, won’t he? With that personality of his, who knows what he’d do. Guest Dragon knows that much too. If he wants to survive, he’ll pay us in exchange for keeping quiet about what happens tonight.”
“And you’re confident you can seduce him?”
“He gulped down the drinks quite eagerly, didn’t he?”
She grinned.
At the banquet, she had already slipped poison into Jin Seong-un’s drink.
The Vice Sect Leader frowned at that revelation.
After all, he himself had also drunk plenty of that alcohol.
Seeing his reaction, So Wol spoke.
“I only smeared it on his cup, so don’t worry. Besides, he’s not my type anyway.”
The Vice Sect Leader felt oddly conflicted.
Still, he could not help but acknowledge her.
After all, if things went wrong, even she risked having her head blown apart by the Sect Leader of the Thunderclap Sect.
The sheer audacity of a woman with no martial arts pursuing such schemes solely for money was genuinely impressive.
“I’ve truly met a vicious woman.”
“And who was it that brought me here?”
The Vice Sect Leader burst into loud laughter.
---
The guest chamber provided by the Thunderclap Sect.
Only Jin Seong-un’s soft breathing quietly echoed throughout the room.
Perhaps to ensure moonlight would not disturb their honored guest’s sleep, curtains had been drawn over the windows, revealing the Thunderclap Sect’s hidden attention to detail.
The door opened soundlessly.
So Wol calmly entered the room.
Though she knew well the rumors surrounding Guest Dragon’s martial prowess, she seemed entirely unconcerned.
She sat beside Jin Seong-un and quietly admired his face for a moment.
He truly was handsome.
To think such a young and impressive man was also highly skilled in martial arts.
And yet, it seemed men could not help themselves after all.
Distracted by a woman, he had eagerly gulped down alcohol offered by another person and now slept without awareness of the world.
A faint mocking smile appeared on her lips as she slowly raised her pale, slender hand toward Jin Seong-un’s face.
Soon, her pupils turned a hazy white.
A bright aura close to pure white secretly began spreading through the surroundings.
“Soul-Enthralling Art.”
A type of Demonic Art that bewitched another’s soul and controlled them at will.
The moment her aura flowed through her hand and entered Jin Seong-un’s body—
Crack.
A strange sound suddenly rang from her wrist.
At some point, Jin Seong-un had opened his eyes and seized her wrist.
Chiiiiik—!
The Blood Demon Aura already inside his body shredded her energy apart and released steam.
Her eyes trembled for an instant.
At the same time, Ghost of Divine Slaughter—who had been silently watching her from behind like a shadow the entire time—slowly raised his dagger.
Feeling the cold blade against her neck, she lifted her chin and drew in a sharp breath.
“So you truly did learn martial arts. Even with your wrist bones crushed, you didn’t scream once.”
Ghost of Divine Slaughter spoke quietly.
Jin Seong-un slowly rose to his feet while observing her aura.
Finally, he understood the source of the strange sensation he had felt from the moment he first saw her.
‘Lunar Essence Qi?’
It was not completely identical.
But her aura resembled that of Master Noble Enchantress.